


Seclusion and Spotlight

by Chargefire



Series: The Moon [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Amaurot Worldbuilding, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Gen, Nonbinary Character, have you ever wondered what immortals do with their time? here's one idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 18:50:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20262844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chargefire/pseuds/Chargefire
Summary: Emet-Selch visits Artemis.





	1. Chapter 1

Hades lingers outside their door for a moment before pressing the doorbell, waiting for Artemis to receive the sound of his soul through the wired connection. 

"Come in," a recording of Artemis says, and the door unlocks. When he steps into the foyer, he notes the unchanged decor: still mostly blue and plants. The door locks behind him. He takes his shoes off, leaving them by the door, and places his outside mask on the stand. He then replaces it with Artemis' house mask: a full mask, completely dark blue except for a large circle that covers the eyes and nose, and the phases of the moon around the circle, which are both light blue. The custom in Amaurot is to wear the offered house mask when a guest. 

Artemis usually would greet people at the door, so they must be doing some delicate work. Probably in their basement, then. Hades sighs and meanders through the house, making sure there isn't trash lying everywhere. Thankfully, there isn't. If there was, that would be a sign Artemis wasn't doing well.

He knocks. "Artemis? Hythlodaeus wanted me to check up on you," he explains, raising his voice slightly so they can hear him.

"You can come in, but I'm not decent," they shout back. He sighs. From Artemis, "not decent" could mean anything from being naked to just not wearing a mask. Artemis simply doesn't care much about society's social rules; it's only through the cajoling of their friends that they even wear a mask outside. 

"Are you at least wearing clothes?" 

"Yes!"

He sighs again and opens the door. Artemis _ is _ wearing clothes, though not much: just simple black tights and a loose blue shirt. Neither their mask nor robe are nearby. They're in front of a mirror, concentrating as they shape aether into horns on top of their head. The horns gleam white, unfinished and sloppy. They frown and twist the horns a little to the side, so that they're no longer symmetrical, and then with a wave of their hand and aether, color the horns a dark teal. Another pass of their hand adds texture.

Artemis' creations irritate Hades, if only because Artemis can't ever seem to create in one simple step. It feels sloppy, but Hades has accepted that they don't like the task of visualizing everything beforehand, and that he won't convince them to do so.

"So, what do you think?" Artemis asks, placing hands on their hips.

"I think you ought to go outside more often, so Hythlodaeus doesn't make me visit you," Hades says in annoyance. They've sequestered themself for over two months now, and they're not even working on anything really important?

"No, I'm fine," they say, moving a floating mirror so they can inspect the sides of their horns. 

"Please tell me that you haven't been just working on... that," Hades says. He absolutely understands the appeal of wanting to look good - and it really is a shame he and Artemis didn't work out, because he still thinks they are very attractive (even if their creation process is irritating, their works all have a keen artistic sense, and he too finds that attractive); but despite understanding the appeal of looking good, he doesn't understand wanting to change their appearance so often.

"No, I've also been working on a more efficient air filtration system, a new song, and a more powerful telescope," they answer. 

Hades would personally work on one of those at a time, but he knows Artemis simply cannot focus that way. "Well, I'll tell Hytholdaeus you're still alive," he says, and turns to leave, holding a hand up in farewell.

"Wait, before you go- do you want to go to the dress up contest with me? You don't have to participate. I would just appreciate the moral support," they say, and Hades turns around, raising an eyebrow and lowering his arm.

"Is that what the horns are for?"

"Yes! The theme this year is "animal-like"."

It might be worth going, if only to see the terrible creations and mock them. "Very well. When is it?"

"In 14 days."

"Hm, cutting it a bit close; I could have had something planned, you know," Hades chides.

They shrug. "Well, it appears you didn't."

Hades rolls his eyes. "Goodbye, Artemis."

"See you later, Hades!" they call back, and return to examining the horns in the mirror as he leaves. 

* * *

Fourteen days later, Artemis and Hades are sitting in a booth, watching the speaker introduce the event from down below.

"Do you need to head backstage?" Hades asks, and Artemis shakes their head, looking at a piece of paper in their hands. 

"No, there's… eight more people before I go. These events take a while. I don't need to go until the sixth person."

Hades nods, slouching forward to watch the first contestant walk on the stage: someone with large, colorful bird wings instead of arms, and fluffy down sprouting across their pale green skin.

"That's… interesting," he says. 

"Well, the theme _ is _"animal-like". The small feathers are a nice touch, but I think they could have leaned into the bird aesthetic more," Artemis says, folding their arms and leaning back in their seat. They have their costume primed, but won't change until they enter the dressing room.

"They're going for a parrot theme, but those wings are structurally eagle wings," Hades criticizes. "Three out of ten."

Artemis bumps their shoulder into Hades'. "Don't be so mean. I think they're young. Hm… Six out of ten."

After the first contestant poses for photos, they leave the stage. The event speaker announces the next person.

A horse trots onto the stage, and Hades finds himself creasing his eyebrows. "I thought the theme was- wait, that soul- is that-"

"-Lahabrea?" Artemis smirks. "Yes. He's a horse every year."

Hades tries to think of something to say, but the sheer absurdity of Lahabrea dressing up as a horse - not even a horse-like person, but a regular horse - has him stunned silent.

"What," he finally says.

"Last year, when the theme was flowers, he was the same horse but with flowers in its mane. And the year before that, when the theme was fire, his horse was red with flames around the hooves."

He presses a palm against his mask. "He gets zero out of ten for misinterpreting the theme and also for being Lahabrea."

"Hades!" Artemis scolds, but then giggles. "Hm. Four out of ten. He needs to do something new."

The event goes on like that, with Artemis being less critical of the contestants, and Hades being more so. Eventually, the sixth contestant slithers on stage, and Artemis nods to Hades.

"I have to go backstage now," they say, and use the aethernet shard in their booth to head just outside the dressing room.

Hades sits back and waits through the sixth ("five out of ten") and seventh ("three out of ten") contestants. As a green ball of fluffy fur bounces off the stage, the event speaker announces Artemis. 

Artemis walks on stage, grinning and posing as if about to strike. They have the horns from earlier attached to their head, and their eyes are now slit like a cat's. Light blue fur covers their body, and each hand is capped with sharp and disproportionately large claws. They take a moment to show that they can sheathe the claws, just like a regular cat would be able to do, and then unsheathe them. Behind their horns are regular cat ears, and their face has also taken on the form of a cat's. They then unfurl bat-like wings from behind them, and flap them to begin to fly (though aether is almost certainly involved; those wings would not carry Artemis without it).

The flash of photos being taken fills the auditorium until the event speaker nods for Artemis to exit the stage. They bow, and then flap their wings, flying backstage.

Hades waits for Artemis to return. After a minute or so, they return via the aethernet shard, robe and mask back in place. 

"Very bestial," he comments. "Hm… six out of ten."

"High praise," they say, smirk in their voice.

"The wings were a nice touch. But no tail?"

"Seemed boring. I was already mostly a cat," they explain. 

"Do you think you'll win?" Hades asks.

"I doubt it. The judges this year like less unusual showings. But that's fine; I wasn't aiming to win."

"You were aiming to be weird. Well, unfortunately, you didn't displace Lahabrea from his ranking position," Hades says slyly.

"I'm not going as a horse next year, Hades!"

"Too bad. I'm sure you'd do a better job than… Lahaneigha."

Artemis crosses their arms. "Lahaneigha? Really?"

"Quiet, I want to mock the rest of the contestants," Hades says as the ninth contestant enters the stage. 

"Oh, they're a… fish person?" Artemis asks in confusion. 

On the stage, the contestant has an orb of water surrounding them, and is floating inside it. Their bottom half is a rainbow trout, and the top half is a naked Amaurotine. Gills line the sides of their chest and their neck. 

"Five out of ten, I suppose. Points for not choosing a mammal."

Artemis clicks their tongue. "Seven out of ten. I think this one will win, actually."

"What makes you say that?"

"Instinct, mostly."

Hades rolls his eyes, though he knows they can't see. "No, really."

"Well… like you said, they didn't choose a mammal, so that will set them apart. Also, they're a good medium between too animal and too Amaurotine."

Hades shrugs. "I suppose we'll see." He won't admit he's having fun, but he's sure Artemis can read him well enough to tell.

As the next contestant enters the stage, Hades leans against Artemis. Even if they’re not dating anymore, he’s still glad they’re friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the idea of lahabrea dressing up as a horse makes me lose it every time i consider it. thanks to my friend ivy for "lahaneigha", i really think it enhanced the fic
> 
> make sure to read chapter two for an extra :)


	2. Chapter 2

Hades gazes up at the stars from atop a Crystarium building; the Source's vaunted hero has done decent enough, if aggravating work. He tries to avoid getting caught in the mire of bygone memories, but their familiar, broken soul brings far too many to the surface.

Below him, he hears their current half-incarnation, though he's too far away to make out any words. He glances down and then reels back, a deep yawning chasm of despair and nostalgia ripping open at the sight.

Their clothes are blue, and a greatsword is attached to their back, but what really upsets him is that they're wearing the horns Artemis made all those millenia ago. When did they start doing that? 

How  _ dare _ this meager imitation remind him of-

He can't take looking at them, at their ruined soul any longer. Bittersweet memories engulf him, and he teleports away to Kholusia; the muck of greed and decadence will disgust him enough to distract from the memories. 

He looks out at the gleaming city and pushes his emotions away. He has a plan, and he can't let anything - not even his own feelings - stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! :)


End file.
